Guided browser workshop / Intermediate / Estimated 45–60 minutes
Workflow Debugger
Trace a failed workflow, identify the cause, and correct its configuration.
What you’ll build
A bounded sample workflow to practice logs, failure handling, retries. These browser workshops are complete guided exercises, not production implementations.
Prerequisites: basic familiarity with inputs, outputs, and validation. No installation, account, or API key is needed for the sample demonstration.
- Sample input
- Permitted tool or rules
- Validation
- Reviewed output
Predefined keywords select a route. Ambiguous requests need escalation; a simpler automation is often sufficient.
Sample inquiry: “Please help me understand your automation offering.”
Node inspector / Pending
Trigger
- Input
- Sample inquiry: Please help me understand your automation offering.
- Action / decision
- Simulate trigger using the supplied inquiry.
- Output
- Expected: Sample step completed; no external action.
- Possible failure
- Missing destination; stop before subsequent actions.
Execution trace
- Awaiting execution.
Compare engineering trade-offs
| Characteristic | Rule-based automation | AI-assisted automation | Tool-using AI agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Predictability | High for defined rules | Rules constrain model proposals | Bounded, but decisions vary |
| Flexibility | Known patterns only | Handles varied phrasing | Adapts using observations |
| Complexity | Low | Moderate | Higher |
| Model inference | Not needed | Classification proposal | Tool-selection decisions |
| Verification | Rule and route checks | Schema and policy checks | Every tool result and final output |
| Human oversight | Escalate exceptions | Approve consequential routing | Approve consequential actions |
All modes are predefined simulations. No model inference, real classification, or routing is performed.
Step-by-step workshop
- Enable the simulated error in Automation Studio and run a scenario.
- Inspect the failing node and the execution trace. The routing destination is missing.
- Disable the fault to represent a corrected destination, then reset and rerun.
- Verify the workflow completes and no later step ran during the failed attempt.
Challenge task
Stop execution on a tool failure instead of fabricating a successful result.
Expected output
A verified sample result for supported inputs; a clear review or failure state for missing evidence, invalid data, or configuration errors. Nothing sent, saved, or changed externally.
Extension idea
Design a bounded retry policy that distinguishes transient failures from invalid configurations.
Related lesson: Tools, Instructions, and Context